The Long and Winding Road
by MusicIsLove92
Summary: DEAD FIC. Adopt? Sam finally gets a suitable boyfriend, but when things fall apart will Danny be able to cheer her up without making everything worse? And what happens when a devious plot hatches, and Tucker is left behind? DxS R&R!
1. Introduction

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Prologue and Introduction:

**A/N (Prologue): This is the introduction for my first fanfic. Being new at this, I hope you all can give me some feedback and let me know what you think. I'll go ahead and let you know right now, I have a tendency of writing fiction like I write essays. I have no idea how to stop this, so if you can give me some pointers I would greatly appreciate it! Also, I do need a Beta Reader if you feel like giving it a shot… Thank you very much!! PS- At the moment, my imagination is shot because school just ended for the summer and thinking isn't exactly on my agenda. If you feel like dropping me a request or a plot (for any show or topic, really), I will gladly accept and get that published ASAP. R&R, please and thank you! The first chapter, which is already finished, typed up and everything, will be put up as soon as I find out whether this is worth continuing. Thanks again! With love, **_**Carolyn**_

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Samantha Manson smiled, brushing down her purple and black lace dress with a sly smile. It was the night of the dance, of course, and the goth girl had her lavender colored eyes set on a particular boy. Not just any boy, of course, but her best friend of almost 5 years now. Giving herself another proud review of herself in the mirror, she gave a nod and left for her car. Yes, she owned a car now. At 18, who could blame the girl? After all, she _was_ mind-blowingly rich, and had gotten the purple '68 convertible Mustang as a gift from her parents on her 17th birthday. Who would have thought they would know her so well?

She was only attending the Senior End-of-Year Dance to hang out with Tucker and Danny, but wanted to make the effort to look nice one last time before she was off to college. At the entrance to the school, she met up with her two best friends with a smile and a few brief hugs.

"Hey guys," she said with a smile. Danny gawked, not surprised that his best friend could look so gorgeous, but amazed that she was in a dress, albeit still gothic. She blushed, and he regained composure.

"Hey," Danny and Tucker agreed, though Danny was the one to speak up. "Ready to go in?" _You look amazing, _he added in his mind.

"Yeah, lets do this thing!" Sam looked over Danny with the same eyes he had given her; he was wearing a dark blue suit jacket over the same t-shirt he wore every day, and a plain pair of blue jeans. How he managed to look good without trying, she hadn't a clue. Tucker was wearing what he always wore, including the red beret. It really was just like him not to make the effort to get what he constantly wanted: _girls_. She smiled, and led the way to the cafeteria where everything was set up in the school's colors, along with a few silver and gold streamers and a banner that said 'Seniors of Casper High'. She found a table that was set up with a few chairs, but lacked the obnoxious teenagers that were milling about the dance floor aimlessly. The three sat down and chatted for a short while, though Tucker was wasn't with them for long as he was soon glued to the other girls in the room in a futile effort to get a dance.

With a sigh, Sam put her legs up on the table, straightening the hem of her dress over her calves. Danny smiled, and looked around the room as long as she was getting comfortable. It seemed as though Paulina and Dash dancing was the main event of the evening, but as soon as they were done they wouldn't talk for the rest of the night. After all, it was more for publicity than anything. He saw a few new couples dancing, but nothing too exciting. Turning his head back around to see what Sam was doing, he saw a guy (assumably about Danny's age) wearing dark clothes and had black hair that fell a little in his face. He was talking to Sam, and she was laughing. Jealousy raged inside of him, though he knew that he couldn't do anything about it. He snuck a longing glance back to Sam, again noticing how beautiful she looked that night, and stood to find Tucker. After all, he had a way of getting himself in trouble.

Spotting his attempts to worm his way into the amoeba of teenagers in the center of the dance floor, Danny laughed and snuck up behind Tucker. Being half ghost did have its advantages, didn't it?

"Boo!", he yelled in his unfortunate friend's ear. With a startled jump, Tucker turned around and pulled Danny away from the mob of hormones.

"You've got to stop doing that, it freaks me out!" Tucker straightened his beret. "Anyway, what's up?" Danny's eyes had wandered to Sam and that guy she was talking with, now dancing in the 'hardly-moving' goth fashion. She was laughing, obviously having a better time with him that night than she could have had hanging around with Danny and Tucker. "Dude, you there?" Tucker waved a hand in his face.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. I'm just bored, that's all." He shrugged. "Wanna go get some food?" Tucker blinked.

"When do I ever _not_ want food? Let's go!" He pulled Danny by the wrist over to the snack table, where they made residence for the rest of the dance. Around a half an hour after they sat down, however, Danny spotted Sam leaving the dance with the guy he had learned (through the loudly spoken gossip of the girls in the room) was a new guy, Damien. Danny scoffed, and made the excuse to Tucker that he needed some fresh air. Of course, he was in his ghost form and was watching the two. After all, what would he have done if Sam were assaulted?

"Sam, I really like you," Damien said to her. He was officially Danny's least favorite person at the dance aside from Dash. "Would you accompany me on a date later this week?" He leaned forward, and Danny moved closer.

"Is that so? Well… only if we don't have to dance to any more songs about asses, sure! I'd love to, Damien." Danny shifted his eyes to the ground, and slowly made his way back inside.

"Hey Tuck?" His friend lifted his head from a large plate of BBQ chicken wings, most of his face covered with the sauce. "I think I'm gonna head home, I'm getting pretty tired." The two said their goodbyes, and Tucker reminded him to say good night to Sam, but Danny wasn't going to do that. He felt like shit, but it was because of her this time. It wasn't exactly fair to her, he knew, but he figured she was still having fun with her new boyfriend. On his way home, he kicked a few mailboxes to get his frustration out. Why was it, he wondered, that all of a sudden he felt so passionately about Sam's dating, when he had dated so many other girls in the last few years? He was _so_ confused.

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**Thanks for reading! I must, however, ask that you review this to give me an idea of a) whether or not I need to adjust this story at all, and b) whether or not I should continue it. If I do get positive feedback conscerning the second point, I shall upload the next chapter within the next few days as it is already typed up and everything. I love youuuuu!! 3 Laters.**

**Love, Khepri**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, so, I'm sorry this is (in good part) fluff, but I had to get some of it out of my system after having read all of these wonderful DxS fanfics. The next chapter, should I any positive or critique responses to this one, will be submitted for publishing within the next 2 days. I know I promised not to continue unless I got some feedback (which, btw, I didn't aside from the silly test review I submitted, so please ignore!), but I figured that it would be almost impossible to judge the story unless there existed a plot... so here it is! Thanks for reading.**

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_Two and a half weeks later…_

Sam Manson and Danny Fenton had been best friends for years. They spent almost every moment of their time at school together, spare during the classes they didn't have together. When they were apart, their minds were always on each other and though most people knew that they loved each other, they could never bear to admit it. To risk their friendship like that never seemed worth it even though they ached to be together. Of course, one or the other always had a significant other hanging around; this gave cause for jealousy, and the glances sneaked at the other were growing more frequent. At the moment, however, neither of the two was in possession of a girlfriend or boyfriend, though Sam had recently been attached to a boy. Damien, his name was, a new guy at Casper High.

_"Hey there," Sam had heard from her side nearest the door out of the cafeteria-made-dancehall. Looking up, she pulled her legs off of the table and sat up straight._

_"Hi… Can I help you?" Hardly anyone ever approached her without being paid to do so, at least aside from Danny and Tucker. With the short moment his pause gave her, she looked him over with those sparkling purple eyes. Ooh, he was handsome alright, and had decent taste. He wore blue skate shoes and baggy darkwash jeans, she first noticed, paired with a black long-sleeved t-shirt with 'Where am I?' stamped on the front. He had a cute enough face, but that smile was what caught her attention. It was slightly crooked, but infectious. It reminded her of someone, but she pushed the thought away._

_"I was wondering if you'd like to dance. With me, of course." He said, scratching the back of his neck a little nervously. Sam laughed, which she knew would probably freak the poor kid out, but didn't much care to hold it back._

_"Dance? Nobody's asked me to do that in a _long _while." She saw Danny walk away, and with a silent sigh she looked back to the newcomer. "Alright, but only because I have no idea who you are, got it?" The stranger nodded, and chuckled under his breath._

_"I am honored, then, Miss…?" He had given a short and sarcastic bow to her, but raised his head when he must have realized he didn't know her name._

_"Sam. Not Samantha, not Sammy", though she recalled vaguely how Danny had tried to call her that a few times, "Just Sam. What about you?"_

_"Damien, and it's a pleasure to meet you." He held out a hand ceremoniously as if he were going to help her out of her chair. She blushed a bit, but accepted it and followed him onto the 'dance' floor. Over the rest of the night, she learned that he had just moved in somewhere at the edge of town, and was invited to the dance as a welcome invitation to join the school. He was a Senior too, he said, and didn't want to leave his previous school, though his parents didn't give him much of a choice. Sam could relate, of course, and after they danced to a few stupid hip-hop songs (one of which being 'Miss New Booty', the song in which Sam walked off of the dance floor and sat back down until the song was over) they went outside for fresh air._

_"So, Sam, I really like you," he said, cocking an eyebrow (which made her giggle a bit). "Would you accompany me on a date later this week?" He gave her that slightly crooked smile, but she figured he charmed every girl he met with that smile. Probably even practiced it in the mirror! Well, either way, it was adorable._

_"Is that so? Well…" She took a moment to consider Danny in her decision. She had been crushing on him for the last year or so, but had sent all of the right signals (or so a few of the girls at school told her), and he still hadn't made a move. Anyway, Damien had taken her pause as a bad sign, and was giving her puppy-dog eyes. "Only if we don't have to dance to any more songs about asses, sure! I'd love to, Damien." It wasn't the first time she had ever been asked out, but it was the first time she'd said yes._

Excitedly jumping around her darkly decorated room, the lavender-eyed girl sang and played air guitar along with Paramore, the band that was being pumped through her speakers (also being the reason she was so energetic). A great band with a female singer: it was amazing, and it filtered through her emotions as sweetly as honey, coating her less positive emotions with sugary goodness.

_Whoa, I never meant to brag  
__But I got him where I want him now  
__Whoa, it was never my intention to brag  
__To steal it all away from you now  
__But God does it feel so good!  
_'_Cause I got him where I want him now  
__And if you could then you know you would  
_'_Cause God it just feels so good_

Oh, this music was good for her soul! Not to mention the good it did for her psyche and self-confidence after having been dumped. Cursing Damien under her breath, she did the head bang a few times to cheer herself up, then stopped to catch her breath for a moment. Smiling, she fell backward onto her bed when the song was over, and let the lyrics of the next track wash over her until-

The sound of someone clearing their throat caught her attention at the corner of her room.

Daniel Fenton had originally gone to Sam's house to see if she was alright; her boyfriend had recently broken up with her. Their relationship having been only a few weeks old, he figured she would be alright, but it still nagged at the back of his mind like a parasite. As it was, he had been her first boyfriend, and though Danny knew he was trouble from the begging, he also knew that his best friend would need consoling. Smiling at Sam's startled reaction, he smiled and chuckled before sitting on her bed beside her with a simple 'hey'.  
"You always do that, Danny! Shit, you scared me." Watching his friend sigh exasperatedly, the boy could hardly help laughing again.

"Sorry," he said truthfully, "I figured I'd come and see how you were doing, but I guess I caught you at a bad time," he laughed again. He was in a much better mood than he was willing to admit, and for reasons he wasn't exactly sure he wanted anyone to know. He smiled crookedly, glad to be back around her for even a little while.  
"You mean you saw-"

"Uh, yeah." She blushed cutely in her embarrassment, but he was fairly sure she didn't know it.

Sam's eyes widened, though his adorably crooked smile (the one that warmed her insides) compelled her to return it with the same smile she'd given him for the last 4 years. Neither of them had changed in those last few years, or so it seemed in each other's eyes. Both had grown a lot physically, and had become more comfortable in their skin and personalities, but through all of it they were still best friends. Of course there was Tucker, and although he was just as good a friend as Danny, Sam would never hold the same attraction toward him.  
Why could she only think of Danny when she had so recently been dumped by her boyfriend Damien? In fact, there existed very few thoughts of that bastard in her mind, instead replaced by memories sparked by Danny's presence.

_Nothing compares to a quiet evening alone  
__Just the one, two I was just counting on  
__That never happens  
__I guess I'm dreaming again  
__Let's be more than this…_

"What are you listening to?"

"A band called Paramore, they're reasonably new. What do you think?" she asked, sitting up on her bed.

"I like it, it's different. You should let me rip it sometime… but I'm not here to talk about bands, Sam. I, uh, heard about what happened." She frowned; clearly she wasn't going to enjoy this visit. He gave her a look of understanding (though it seemed more like pity to her), but didn't seem like he was going to let the idea go too easily.

"Then what, Danny? I don't want pity, it was all for the better." She crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a look that said '_you know I'm stronger than that_'. She knew he couldn't argue with that.

"If you say so," he replied as he shrugged nonchalantly, but put an arm over her shoulder. His warmth was inviting, and his constant (but not invasive) smell of Axe was enticing. She leaned into him a little unconsciously. "If you want to talk about it, I'm here to listen," he said softly.

"I was serious, Danny, I'm fine- I don't want to talk, and I don't need you to listen." She pulled away from him, ashamed at having been attracted to her own best friend so soon after Damien dumped her. Passing it off as her over-sensitivity and self-consciousness after today, she sighed. "Just... Just go, Danny." She crossed her arms over her chest and curled up on the opposite side of her massive bed.

Danny figured he had done something wrong. Deciding against trying to talk to her for fear she would react badly again, he turned ghost to fly out her window. Later, in his own room, he couldn't sleep. He played connect-the-dots with the spots on the ceiling while his mind wandered back to Sam. He hoped that she would be better by tomorrow, but wasn't going to push her if she didn't. He knew how it was to be dumped, rejected, and it wasn't any fun. With a frown he rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. That night, he dreamed that he and Sam were boyfriend and girlfriend, and it was amazing even though Tucker wasn't around much. Perhaps it was a sign? Well, that would wait for the morning.

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**A/N: Oookay, so, I'm really hoping for some feedback to this... / After all, why continue when I don't know what you guys think? Please, please, please? I want to improve!! I look forward to hearing from you, -_Khepri-_**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys! (even though I only got one… -- thank you, goth.one) Keep on sending them, I love the feedback, and it gives me an excuse to keep on writing. Anyway, I plan on making this story quite a bit longer, maybe 4 or 5 chapters still to go (though I may stretch it out a bit more if it occurs to me to do so), so hold in there! 3 Thanks for reading, with love, **_**Khepri.**_** Also, I do not own Danny Phantom (the show) nor the characters in it, and of course I do not own Kleenex either. I have a box on my TV, but that's about it. And, of course, my thanks go out to my readers and my off-net Beta, CK. **_**You know who you are! 3**_

Over the next few days, Sam remained quiet. She still hung around Danny and Tucker, but seemed more withdrawn, making conscious efforts to avoid Damien. Occasionally, Danny caught him sneaking glances at his ex, but aside from that it seemed as if the breakup hadn't affected him. What bothered Danny the most was while he was on his nightly rounds of Amity Park (patrolling for any trouble in town after checking on the ghost zone at home), he often saw Damien out with more popular girls, Paulina and Valerie included. Danny wasn't jealous, per se, but it disturbed him that Sam's ex-boyfriend would rebound so quickly. After all, how could he let his best friend become so used?

"Mr. Fenton? Are you with us?"

"Hnnh," Danny mumbled, finally looking up. Mr. Lancer had his arms crossed over his chest and was staring him down intensely.

"Mr. Fenton, would you like to explain Tybalt's motivation in killing Mercutio?"

"Uh… Not particularly, Mr. Lancer." Danny sat up with a devious smile.

"Well, congratulations, then. I'll see you in after school in detention, Daniel."

Danny sighed, letting his head fall against the desk. _Dammit!_ On second thought, he should have known that would happen, but what was he supposed to do? He didn't read the book.

"How about you, Miss Manson? What was Tybalt's motivation for killing Mercutio?"

"I dunno." Danny turned around, his eyes wide in shock. Sam shrugged, going back to etching "DAMIEN" in her notebook, then crossing out the A, M and N. Meanwhile, Mr. Lancer was watching her intently. It wasn't like her not to do the homework or understand the question, so he passed it off as a one time thing.

"Alright, Samantha, see me after class." She groaned inwardly, putting her notebook in her bag when the bell rang for lunch. Walking to Mr. Lancer's desk, she threw her backpack onto the ground and sat in the chair opposite him. "What seems to be the matter, Miss Manson? You seem upset." She scoffed.

"Well, duh." He raised an eyebrow. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"As you wish, then. Would you like a note to go home? You look like you could use a day off." Sam gave him a look of incredulity. "I'm completely serious. I do happen to know that he was your first boyfriend, by the way, and it's never easy to be rejected. I-," he sniffed, "I know how that feels." He turned around, composed himself for a moment after grabbing a Kleenex, then turned back. "Sorry. Ex wife, you know." He waved the comment away flamboyantly. He wrote the note, and Sam took it tentatively. It really did seem like a joke. Reading over it, she allowed herself to smile a little.

"Well, I guess this is unexpectedly kind of you, Mr. Lancer, but thank you very much." Standing, she shook his hand happily, then left. Once she was gone, Mr. Lancer shook his head a little and wiped a tear away.

Danny ate lunch with Tucker, but couldn't shake the looming fear that something had happened to Sam. Tucker kept assuring him that she was fine, and that she had probably just gone home because she was sick. Still, Danny was unnerved. After school was over, he went straight to Sam's house. She was asleep, though, so he phased through her window silently. He hovered by the wall for a few minutes, watching her sleep. She looked so peaceful, all he really wanted to do was cuddle up next to her and hold her in his arms. She mumbled something in her sleep, then rolled over. Unfortunately, she didn't exactly know that there was an end to the bed, so she fell onto the floor with a clumsy thump. She grumbled unhappily, and stood as she rubbed her temple.

"Hey…" Danny whispered, now sitting in a purple chair in the corner. Sam had to have been expecting him, because she turned to face him with a sleepy smile.

"Hey."

"Are you okay? I didn't see you at school after lunch. Tuck said you probably went home sick, but I figured I'd stop by and see how you're doing." He rubbed at the back of his neck, nervously as Sam figured. She sat back down on her bed and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess I'm okay. You'll never guess what Mr. Lancer did for me though!" Danny leaned forward, his eyes wide and mouth open. "Relax, jeez, get your head out of the gutter." She blushed a little, but turned her head so that he couldn't see. After all, it was Danny she wanted to be with. _No! _She yelled at her thoughts. _He's your best friend, you slut, stop thinking that way! _Besides, he would never like her the way she had liked him for so long. Anyway, he was the reason that she had accepted Damien's offer anyway. The other girls at school (the ones she hated to, and would never, admit were helpful) had said that the best way to make a guy realize what he's missing is to make him jealous. Of course, that failed miserably. She hadn't exactly counted on Damien dumping her. "Anyway, he gave me a note to go home because he knew I was upset." She smiled at the recollection of Mr. Lancer's own breakdown, but it faded when she remembered what she promised herself before she fell asleep. Oh, yes, she had been thinking about what she was going to say to him for hours before she finally settled on it. She had to do it now or else she would never have the courage to. The consequences would still be the same, but she didn't know how much longer she could go on trying to give him the signals that he constantly took the wrong way.

Danny leaned back. "Wow, I was definitely not expecting that!" He laughed awkwardly. "I had to stay late in his detention because I fell asleep again." What he wasn't going to tell her was that it was because he couldn't sleep, worrying for her own sake.

Sam shifted so that she now sat in the center of her bed, now cross-legged, and patted a spot in front of her in a signal that he should join her. Danny nodded, and floated over to her bed to sit where she wanted him to. "Please, Danny, don't be ghost tonight." He smiled faintly, and fully materialized in front of her. It was harder to relate to what people said as a ghost, almost like he knew it wouldn't affect him, but apparently Sam had picked up on that. She must have been serious, Danny figured, so he made sure his attention was entirely focused on her (though that wasn't terribly hard for him to do). "Thank you. Anyway, I figured I'd better let you know what's going on." She blushed, fidgeting around with her hands in her lap and avoiding eye contact with him.

Danny looked from side to side nervously, though he was sure she wouldn't see, and leaned forward a bit. Mustering what courage he had (which wasn't much when it involved Sam), he reached a hand toward her, lifting up her chin so that she would look at him. "So, what _is_ going on?" He searched her eyes for a preemptive answer, but waited all the same.

Her brow furrowed a bit, but as much as she wanted to avert her eyes, she kept them locked with his though it made her nervous. A pink blush growing on her cheeks, she sighed. "Danny, I wasn't upset because I wanted Damien back. I was upset because I wanted you to be jealous of him."

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**A/N: Sorry to leave you with a cliffhanger, but I needed a way to get you guys to stick around! Anyway, I'll have the next chapter up in a few days. If I get ****2 or 3 reviews**** between today and tomorrow afternoon (June 13****th****, approximately 1pm Pacific), then I'll have it to you by tomorrow at 3pm Arizona time. Thanks for reading! Love, **_**Khepri.**_

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	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hi again, readers! I'm sorry this took so long to update, but you can hardly blame me. The shockingly **_**lame**_** response to the last chapter was hardly something that would compel me to write more quickly. -- Anyway, I won't be posting the next chapter (which, by the way, is already done) until I get 2 (yes, ****2****, and that's it) reviews from someone **_**other**_** than goth.one, however much I appreciate your responses, dear. Please, please, please review, people! It doesn't take that much effort, does it? Either way, I hope you like this chapter! It was heart-achingly slow-going on writing it, but I figure it came out plausible enough. Thanks! (REVIEW OR… well, no next chapter!) Until then: my love to you all, **_**Khepri**_**.**

Sam pushed his hand away, and turned away from him. "I… I'm sorry, Danny, I didn't-"

"Oh," Danny managed as he stood and went ghost- well, before toppling over and onto Sam's carpeted floor with a dead-weighted thump; Sam's heart jumped. He was obviously unconscious, and aside from the sleep-like slow and even breathing, there were no open wounds on his body. Sam's hands flew to cover her mouth over the impending gasp, and she scrambled to get over to him.

"D-Danny? I… I didn't mean to shock you so much!" Sam, who had thought she was to blame, took a moment to think through the situation. After all, Danny Phantom _was_ the enemy of many doom-obsessed villains in Amity Park. She knelt and turned her ghostly best friend onto his back and started searching his clothing for anything that could have made him collapse. _Ugh,_ she thought. _It just doesn't seem fair, does it? I finally give in and tell him why I feel the way I do, and he passes out._

She sighed, running a hand to the back of her neck. Sam looked him over again, and although he looked so peaceful, she knew something had to be done. She shifted to kneel so that his head fell on her lap, and ran her fingers along the back of her neck. Her fingers made contact with a small metal clasp attached to the base of his neck. She moved his hair away from it, and managed to get a full view of the contraption. It was a tiny square-shaped metal shunt stuck to his skin, and had a small bubble of green plasma in the center. Poking at it curiously, she figured this had to be the culprit.

_It only activated when he tried to go ghost, _she thought to herself as she picked at the corner of the thing. _That's probably what its programmed to release at. Someone must know he's only half ghost!_ Withdrawing a little, Sam bit her lip before searching her room for a pair of tweezers. After she had found some in a drawer in her bathroom, she knelt beside Danny's head again, cradling it in her lap before pulling off the tiny perpetrator and flushing it down the toilet with a pathetic spark. Back with Danny, she gently ran her fingers over the injection site before ruffling his hair a little with a satisfied release of breath: the one she had been holding for the last few minutes without knowing it.

Sitting him up, Sam shook his shoulders and tapped the side of his head. "Danny, come on, wake up!" She slumped her shoulders, but shook him again before leaning in, her mouth a few inches from his ear. "Danny! Wake _up_, come on!..." She sighed. "Please?" Pulling away, she sat up before he pulled away.

Yawning, Danny smiled and sat up again. "Hnnh?"

"Uh… you tried to go ghost and passed out on my floor." Sam blinked.

"I- wait, what?" Danny looked around, but saw nothing suspicious. "What?" Sam sighed.

"You tried to go _ghost_," she said sarcastically, "I found a tiny little metal thingy on the back of your neck and picked it off before flushing the stupid thing." She shrugged her shoulders, and put a hand on one of his. "How do you feel? I figure it was a ghost-activating poison shunt."

Danny's eyes widened, and he rubbed at the back of his neck. "Really? I feel fine. A little tired, but nothing out of the ordinary," he chuckled. _Maybe she's forgotten about what she said, _he thought with a smirk, but leaned forward again. His icy blue eyes met her own lavender ones, searching them for a sign, something. With a disdainful breath, he shifted forward again so that his lips met hers for a brief moment. His eyes closed, though Sam's widened.

_What the- What's he- I have to- Oh, no… _She closed her eyes, pressing back against his lips a little before he pulled back. "Sam," he said with a dreamy look in his eyes. "Thank you." She saw him smile one-sidedly, and her heart leapt: in a good way. _Oh, yes, _she thought. _Definitely a good way. _A girlish blush crept up her cheeks, and she turned her head.

"You… you're welcome, Danny." She distantly smiled. _He only did that to be nice, _she figured, though she hugged him like she had so many times before.

"Sam, I don't think we're clear yet." He pulled away. "Why did you want me to be jealous of Damien?" He knew, of course, as it was obvious, but he wanted to hear her say it.

"Because as much as I really did like Damien, I've known you for so much longer, and I like you so much more, Danny." She averted her eyes, and turned away. "I knew this would only complicate things but I felt like-"

Danny reached a hand toward her, thumbing her chin so that she would look at him. "I know, Sam. I… I've always known, I think. I just, well, I never had the courage to tell you I felt the same. So… now you know." He frowned a little, uncertain of himself and of their relationship.

"Oh, Danny, don't frown like that, please don't," Sam pleaded. "I'm so, so glad that the feeling is mutual, and although this is going to change a lot, I don't know that things will ever be much different." Her attempt at a smile failed miserably, and only ended up serving to make her look even more nervous.

Danny laughed (thus causing Sam's stomach to flutter a little), and smiled. "My thoughts exactly, Sam."

"But Danny, there's one thing I meant to ask you after you woke up." He raised an eyebrow, giving her a look that said _go on_ almost explicitly. She smiled anxiously. "Why were you turning ghost after I _basically_ spilled all of my feelings to you?" She crossed her arms over her waist.

"Because," Danny said with a sly smile, "I was going to do this." He stood up, then motioned for her to do the same before scooping her up in his arms and turning ghost. Luckily, he was able to do so without a hitch, and phased through her window and into the night.

Sam's breath caught in her throat, snuggling herself into his arms comfortably before looking around. It was almost midnight now, she guessed, and though it was dark, the moon shone brightly, around its 3rd quarter already. "Ohmygosh!" She whispered as he flew the two of them into the clouds, casting the hauntingly beautiful moonlight against her creamy skin and his outfitted ghost form. Having her vulnerably human body in his arms was primordially fulfilling, and flying only made it that much more amazing. He sighed happily, looking downward to catch her eyes. He smiled, and stopped for a moment above a large white puffy cloud before strangling her questioning "wha-" by pressing his lips against hers. He held back, not wanting to scare her away with his testosterone-fueled urgency, but couldn't help kissing her in a moment like this. Of course, her lips were sinfully soft and it made his toes tingle to be in his ghost form and so close to her, but he didn't want to ruin things by taking them too fast. As Sam pulled away (that same dreamy look in her eyes), he smiled.

"Hey, Sam?"

"Hm?"

"I love you."

* * *

**Now- ****GO!**** REVIEW!! Don't make me cry!**

* * *


	5. Chapter 4

A/N Hi people

**A/N Hi people! As much as I've been waiting for you (silly person! I see that you've been reading, and I know you haven't reviewed) to REVIEW MAH STORY! Finally, I gave into the requests of goth.one and animeaddict2323232 (thank God for copy and paste) and wrote another chapter. So, I'm gonna go ahead and ask again. Please please please please please please please review!! Read, too, but mostly review. Soon, I'll also be posting a Zutara/ATLA, so watch out for that and read/review that one too. PLEASE!! Kay. Bye.**

**x--x**

Sam blinked, a sleepy smile smeared across her features, eyelids heavy. She nodded slowly, yawned, and replied with a simple "uh huh" before wrapping her arms around his neck and laying her head against the crook of Danny's neck and closing her eyes. Danny wasn't too thrilled with her answer, but for now he figured it was better than rejection.

Glancing about the open air, the clouds below him, and Sam's body against his own, he smiled a little and figured he should probably bring Sam back down to earth. Snickering with the pun in his own thoughts, he shook his head to the side disdainfully and let out a long breath before drifting into Sam's bedroom through her open window.

Her breathing was deep and slow, even and clearly asleep. For a moment he just held her against him, relishing her curves that fit so well- almost _absurdly_ so- in his arms, her petite arms wrapped around his neck, her breathing gently disturbing his shaggy white hair. Sighing happily, he nuzzled his head in her hair before pulling back the covers of her purple and black bedding and slipping her (about as quietly and gently as he could so as not to wake her up) and pulled the covers back over her.

He brushed a stray lock of her black hair behind her ear, watching intently as she squirmed, turning onto her side facing him. She blinked a little, covering a yawn with her hand, and brought the other one to his cheek. Suddenly, the room got a little warmer and he had a bad feeling he was blushing.

_What? You can take every spirit in the Ghost Zone, but you get so nervous under the touch of your best friend!? How pathetic, _he thought with a face-palm, before seeing her face light up in another sleepy smile. Her smile was infectious, and it compelled him to lean down and kiss her forehead, though his lips lingered on her skin a bit longer than was generally accepted in something so friendly.

Pulling back with a genuine smile, he saw her eyes flutter open again after having (presumably) closed when he kissed her. Right before he was about to fly out of her window again, he heard her say, "Danny, wait." It was almost a whisper, and he had to take a step toward her.

"Yeah, Sam?" Was that his own voice? It sounded raspier than normal, like he had suddenly grown up a few years, and though he didn't mind it, he wondered if Sam had noticed. Suddenly he wished he could read her mind, just see into it for a few moments, that's all. The next few words he would hear almost stopped his heart.

"I love you, too." She was so beautiful, it made his heart sink into his stomach, and for a moment he thought he would just run, just leap out of her window and fly into the night sky with all of the joy that her few words had brought him. Oh, but she would never know, would she?

He rubbed at the back of his neck nervously before he noticed she had curled up and fallen asleep, a tiny bead of drool formed at the corner of her mouth. He had to use every ounce of control he had not to go back to thoughts about kissing her, and he blushed again. With her light snoring, he let out a quiet 'phew' and stroked her hair again. Thankfully, she would probably forget everything they had said by tomorrow morning, but he was still giddy enough to fly in circles, to laugh and flip and do every touchdown dance he had ever seen, after he left her room.

He had almost wanted to just curl up next to her, wrap his arms around her and protect her through the night, but thoughts of the next morning invaded his thoughts like a disease, spreading to all of the positive ones and making him feel dirty for having thought any of them in the first place. With a sigh, he phased through his own window and plopped onto his bed (which, oddly enough, seemed too thick, heavy and empty to fall asleep on) and went human again before turning onto his stomach and falling asleep.

His dreams weren't so chaste as his last kiss upon her forehead, but he didn't mind. In his dreams, he had nothing to be ashamed of, and he didn't have to worry about what Sam thought of him, what she would say in the morning after it all. Of course, it wasn't a dream his parents wouldn't have approved of. Granted, Danny was tempted by the testosterone lacing his blood, but he had his own rules and, well, proprieties to live by.

In any case, he knew he loved the poor thing, and now he knew that somewhere in her, she loved him too. It was enough to make his toes squirm, but he didn't keep from sneaking greedy glances of her during class. A few times, Tuck had to flick the back of his head to keep his attention from wandering, but he was smart enough to figure it out.

Nothing was awkward, thankfully enough. She smiled to the both of them and greeted them as always, ate lunch with Danny without saying anything about the night before, and left, seemingly with a clear mind and conscience, aside from the obvious hurt that Damien had inflicted. He saw it in her eyes when she caught glances of her ex-boyfriend flirting with Paulina, shamelessly as ever. Of course, she wouldn't show the weakness of her feelings, and continued her day without problems.

Danny worried for her, and couldn't stop thinking about those few innocent kisses, couldn't stop thinking about how far Damien had pushed her during their short-lived relationship, couldn't pass the opportunity to phase into her room again that night. He sat on the same purple chair as that first night she was dumped, and watched her sleep.

She tossed once, turning again to the side where she had faced him the other night, and murmured something he didn't hear. Crawling closer (and invisibly), she spoke again. Vaguely, he was reminded of Romeo and Juliet. _'What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun… she speaks! Oh, speak again, fair maiden…'_

"I do love you, please stay…" Her hand flopped from her shoulder and onto the bed, resting beside her head as if she were pleading with someone. Deep in his heart, in his conscience, he wished she were talking with him. "Don't do this, Damien, please…" Danny's eyes widened in understanding.

_She had told him she loved him, and he didn't return it. He broke up with her because he never wanted something serious, but she loved him, and it scared him. He broke her heart. _Danny sighed. Of course, he understood where both were coming from, but surely Damien would have known that Sam was as innocent, as naïve as she was, that she would not just settle for a fling. He shook his head, and left Sam's room. He felt sickly now, like he had just taken advantage of his best friend without thinking of the consequences. _Oh, God… _But, how could he have known?

Sam blinked, having heard Danny leave the room. She giggled, getting up to replace the box of tissues near her window that Danny had knocked over with the wind from his having flown out of her room so quickly. Of course she wondered why he had been there, but more wondered if he had known she meant what she said, if he remembered what he had said, if he would ever bring it up. She smiled, and got back into bed after looking out her window for her best friend.

_No, _she thought, the man who was willing to love her back, even if he didn't know that she would.She giggled again. Ugh, she was being so pathetic, but she couldn't help it. When he had snuck those looks at her during school today, it sent shivers down her spine. The heat of his gaze was intimidating, yes, but at least now she knew why. She face-palmed, and turned onto her stomach.

**Okay, so, now that you've read, just go ahead and click that button down on the left-hand bottom corner and review the thing! I'll be very thankful, and will post the next chapter sooner with each review. / Please and thank you!**

**-Khepri**


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: Okay, so, I guess I have to admit that I did -kind of- forget to develop the whole 'thing-attached-to-Danny's-neck' plot… Thusly, this chapter will pretty much follow it completely, aside from maybe one or two fluff moments of DxS magic

_**A/N: Okay, so, I guess I have to admit that I did -kind of- forget to develop the whole 'thing-attached-to-Danny's-neck' plot… Thusly, this chapter will pretty much follow it completely, aside from maybe one or two fluff moments of DxS magic. Anyway, thank you all SO MUCH for the reviews. Within the first 4 hours its been up (I think, though I didn't exactly do the math) the story had gotten 3 reviews on it already. My love to you all! Of course, that would have been why I had wanted to post this update so soon, but nevermind that! Read now, and as always, please review. Also, I do not own Danny Phantom, nor do I own Pop-Tarts, though I do wish I had one… Hm. Pop-Tart, anyone? Randomness: WOO! 5 Chapters!! I feel so accomplished.**_

**x--x**

The next day, Sam awoke to an odd feeling in her gut. Then again, she had had the same feeling in her gut for the last few days, ever since Damien had oh-so-discreetly squirmed out of her daily life in Amity Park. Sighing, she cracked her neck as she sat up. She turned on The Hives and got ready quickly, sliding on some dark lipstick as always, and singing 'Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick BOOM!' as she walked out the door, Pop-Tart in hand.

On Danny's side of town, he had made use of the stupid little snooze button on his alarm clock, making it so that his mom had to come in and wake him up. Being up at least an extra hour every night to go check on Sam was starting to drain him, after all he did have a bit of a ritual each day. Getting up with a sore grunt, Danny took a quick shower, pulled his usual clothes on, grabbed his backpack, and ran out of the house. Late, and without breakfast. He flew to school as Danny Phantom so that he wouldn't be late, and found Sam half a block away from Casper High. Landing smoothly in a deserted back road, he phased back to Danny Fenton, and fell in step with his best friend.

Sam shot Danny a quick smile, though he promptly stole one of her Pop-Tarts.

"_Danny_, that's all I have for breakfast!" She punched him in the shoulder playfully, though the contact caused a warm tickle in the pit of her stomach. Danny smiled his _knock-out-gorgeous smile_ (dammit, Sam didn't just think that!) but she ignored it as best as she could by taking another bite of her strawberry breakfast toaster.

"It's not even toasted!" Danny joked, sticking out his tongue with a chewed lump of her breakfast on it.

"Eww! Gross! Put that away! And besides, its better untoasted. Do I have to remind you that you wouldn't have any breakfast if it weren't for my Pop-Tart skills?" She smiled happily, having won the argument, but prayed that she didn't have strawberry goodness in her teeth. The thought pinked her cheeks.

Danny, of course, pretended not to notice that. "Yeah, yeah." He stopped just before they reached the school, and he crossed his arms. "Sam?"

"Hnnh?" Sam was having trouble talking around the last bite of breakfast.

"Thank you. F-for breakfast, I mean." Crap. So much for the flawlessly smooth façade.

"Uh huh. Next time, bring your own. Or, I dunno, call me the night before and I'll bring another." She laughed, tossing the wrapper in a nearby trash bin.

"How kind of you." Licking a stray remnant of pastry off his bottom lip, he went behind Sam and pushed her gently in the direction of the door. "In you go, time for class."

"Oh, well, on my honor, sir!" Sam faked a salute, and grabbed Danny's arm. Danny pointedly ignored the refreshingly and tantalizingly cool touch of her skin against his, and smiled again to her. Little did he know that it had sent a tingle down her spine, however. She giggled, her attempt at having choked it off apparently failing miserably. Danny couldn't help but smile.

x--x

Technus kicked a computer. No, wait, 2 computers.

"Aaaargh! My plan has failed! Danny Phantom, my plan will prevail!" He hadn't quite gotten over the addiction to yelling out his thoughts and plans, even though he was the only one in the area. He was, of course, in the ghost zone, hiding in a tiny room filled with discarded electronics by the box ghost. If that guy had any problems, it was lack of space. He was constantly emptying boxes in random places around the ghost zone, and it bothered everyone. Technus sighed, and palm-faced.

"So, you've failed me again, have you?" Technus turned around to greet a glowing white fist, and promptly fell on the floor. Vlad Plasmius laughed unforgivingly, kicking the obviously incapacitated ghost in the gut. It was a new toy of his that allowed him to knock out otherworldly identities, a tiny addition to his already incredible outfit. _Technus was of much more use when he was cowering in fear_, Plasmius thought with a scoff, straightening himself out before glancing back down to the pathetic lump of ghost on the floor. He would wake up in a few hours, sadly, but the contraption was a good one.

"You are no longer of any use to me." He sighed, and yelled for his latest _assistant._

"Yes?" Skulker stood, arms crossed, having been called in the middle of hunting for the box ghost again. He was worthless, of course, but he was so obnoxious that _not_ hunting him was more troublesome.

"I need Danny… _incapacitated_ for a few hours while I get some things done. Got that?" Skulker sighed, but nodded.

"Fine." Skulker sunk through the floor, and Plasmius allowed himself to smile, however evilly it would have to be.

x--x

Danny followed Sam and Tucker to the Nasty Burger, sitting down in a booth outside. Apparently, the smell of roasting flesh would have made Sam barf if they had eaten indoors.

"I don't believe a word of it, Tuck!"

"It's true," he said with a mischevious grin. "I've got a girlfriend. It's sooo true. I was up all night talking with her." Danny sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, are you sure she's not one of those online-girlfriends you've had before?"

"Come on, man, its true!" Tucker had both hands flat on the table and was leaning forward as if he was pleading for them to believe him. "She's just so amazing, I can't wait until spring break."

"So you really do have a girlfriend, huh Tuck?" Sam cocked an eyebrow. "I still hardly believe it, but being around you so much, its-" Sam was cold. She turned to Danny, but he had already gone ghost. His breath was visible. _Dammit, _she thought, _I was hoping for a day without any of this. _But, as usual, it was too much to hope for. Skulker appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and shot Danny with an ecto-ray. Sam grabbed Tucker's arm and dove behind a dumpster, suppressing the urge to gag before she stuck her head out to watch the fight.

"Good day to you too," Danny said as he jumped back up and phased through the green goo. "Ew, Skulker, don't you have anything better to do?"

"No," he returned simply, blasting another wad of slimy green glowing goo, though Danny just went intangible. "You still have a place on my mantle, Ghost Boy, and I intend to fill it with your carcass."

Danny laughed. "Good luck with that, fatso." Skulker blinked, then looked down at his gut, just before Danny threw a punch to his face. "Tricked ya! Really, will you ever learn?"

Skulker growled, shooting a wave of darts at the teenager. "You hope too much. I will never give up, Ghost Child. Don't forget that." Sam's jaw dropped as Skulker's metal suit opened in the back to present a tiny, focused looking ray gun. She laughed. "What?"

Danny took the opportunity given to punch him in the gut, before Skulker shot the silly-looking gun at him. It produced a large bang, a larger flash, and a thin blue ray straight at Danny's ghostly body. Sam fought the urge to gasp and run out to block the shot before it hit him. It kicked him up and backwards, and he flew into the Nasty Burger sign. Sam's breath caught as she watched her best friend fall back to the ground with an almost silent thud on the concrete. Nearby, the Nasty Burger mascot dropped a tray of food and run back into the fast-food restaurant.

Sam contemplated appealing to the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter's heart, but not knowing if he had one just slightly deterred her from doing so. She snuck out from behind the dumpster and watched helplessly as Skulker stalked over to Danny's now human form. "Wait!" Skulker turned, cocking a black eyebrow over empty green eyes.

"Hah! What do you want, human? What could you possibly do?" Skulker laughed, though the body that lunged at his chest did knock him back a few steps, before she collapsed back onto the ground, unconscious. He wasn't surprised, naturally. Ghost Steel was hard on the skull, or so he had heard. "Pathetic. I'll take you, as well, seeing as you may prove your worth when the Ghost Child wakes." He smiled (however evilly) and hoisted the girl over his shoulder before doing the same with the other, the more important of the two. Why had it been so easy? Ah, that was right, the gifts from Plasmius, and the reason he was willing to assist him when he asked. He slapped his ghost-eliminating cuffs on the Ghost Boy, connected them to his little friend, and fizzled in an instant into the Ghost Zone with his prizes.

Tucker blinked.

"Holy shit."

x--x

Plasmius fingered the tiny metal cube, a grin plastered over his face. To consider the pain and time that had gone into retrieving the thing wouldn't do a thing for how much it would help him in the long run. _Yes, _he figured, _it would prove worth everything I've gone through. _He admitted to himself that his previous attempts had been pathetic and silly, but with his newly acquired device, capturing Daniel Phantom and destroying him, _permanently,_ would be no problem at all. It only sealed the deal that Skulker even had the child in chains on his floor! Plasmius laughed, though his thoughts quickly drifted off to Daniel's mother. Maddie Fenton. Oh, how he would swoop her off her feet.

x--x

Tucker face-palmed. "Holy shit." He sighed, and slammed his head against the concrete wall as hard as he could without permanently damaging his brain. "Holy shit." What was he gonna do? His two best friends had just been knocked out and dragged away, and Skulker had clearly been updated since the last time he had seen him. "Oh, God."

What now?

_**Okay, I know this feels a little disjointed, but I had to switch the POV so many times for a reason, you'll see. Danny-Sam-ness will continue in the next chapter, and the plot will be more clear for you all then. Thank you again for reading and reviewing! Love, Khepri.**_


	7. Chapter 6

_**(A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for all of the reviews, and for sticking around while I took a short hiatus from this story to, uh, vomit out those little crap vignettes that make up 'Of Course'. Anyway, I'll be updating almost daily for the next week and a half, minus weekends and vacation, of course… If you haven't read that silly little 1 shot yet, go do it! The warm fuzzies will infect you internally. Also, I shall be starting a new fic soon, an Avatar: the Last Airbender**_** (Zutara)**_** thingy. HEY! I NEED A BETA-READER! Be mine? There's also the matter of illustration, so if you'd like to do a fanart for this silly little fanfic, please do! I'd love to link it to this page and my description… But then again, I'd pretty much do anything any of my readers ask. Thanks again! Another note, sorries, I have NO idea how old Danny is, so I estimated 16 by most recent episodes. Don't smash me!)**_

Vlad nodded, looking over the two crumpled bodies with a satisfied grin. The Ghost Boy and his friend were incapacitated at last, chained and completely unconscious on the floor of his hidden laboratory. Of course, he hadn't intended upon having Danny's girlfriend with him, but it would make manipulation all that much easier. He crossed his arms, and nodded once to Skulker, who took off through the wall. Vlad let out a tired breath, and looked to his assistant.

It was a machine-like Daniel Fenton, clad in similar clothing, but lacking in the foul attitude, ghost powers, and drive to disobey his master, Vlad Masters/Plasmius. He was another botched attempt at replication of the Ghost Boy, but this one proved useful around the lab. Vlad nodded once, and the assistant picked the two children up and deposited them in a metal crate lined with a ghost shield. It was an ingenious contraption, really. If Daniel made any attempt to 'go ghost', it would shock him back to unconsciousness, and was made of reinforced surgical steel, indestructible yet still stylishly attractive from the outside.

Vlad watched with interest as the girl was jolted awake by the drop into the cage. She blinked a few times and rubbed at one eye, putting the other hand on the back of her head where she had collapsed onto the ground. Her captor smiled devilishly as her eyes widened, remembering suddenly what had happened, and where she was. Those violet eyes narrowed upon catching sight of Vlad himself, and he bowed at the waist as if neither of them were in such a compromising situation as hers.

"What did you do to him?" she asked, putting a hand on the boy's head. He didn't have any outer injuries, as most of the damage would be internal, but he was still unconscious. By Vlad's estimates, he would remain so for the next few days, at least. The grin plastered on his face only twitched.

"Why, my dear, I did nothing to the poor boy!" His cackle would assure her otherwise.

* * *

Sam pulled away from the wall of the cage, her jaw open and her eyes wide. She spluttered for a moment, but fought for composure when she saw Danny's face. He looked so peaceful, as if he was just sleeping, but Sam knew it was nothing so innocent. She brushed a bit of hair from his face but paused for a moment to send a fierce glare Vlad's way.

"Bullshit. What are you trying to prove, Vlad? That you can beat a sixteen year old _kid _to unconsciousness? Way to be mature." She scoffed before pulling Danny's upper body onto her lap, cradling his head in the crook of her right arm.

"Of course not. You should know as well as I do that his age does not directly correlate to his…" he looked like he was searching for an appropriate word, "power. I will deal with you later, child." He turned to his assistant, Sam's breath catching when she saw that it was Danny, but looked as if he were victim of constant apathy. The passion that Sam had so often seen in Danny Fenton's blue eyes was gone, and in its place a dull flat grey. Vlad nodded to him, and the voiceless replica sat in a metal chair in the corner of the room, eyes locked on the cage, and Vlad left the room with a flamboyant wave of his hand in dismissal. Apparently, Sam wasn't going to be let go any time soon, nor taken out for any less-than-proper reasons, and her captor didn't seem like he was going to return for a good while. The Danny impostor at the other end of the room sat motionless, wordless, lifeless. Just for kicks, she picked a clip out of her hair and tossed it at him. It hit his knee, though not hard enough to bother a human. His eyes opened, and he shifted his empty gaze to Sam. He blinked, seemingly a warning, then leant back and closed his eyes again. She sighed.

"Don't you talk? Do you have, I dunno, a soul or something?" She threw her arms up as high as she could (which, considering the bars, wasn't terribly high), and face-palmed. The impostor raised his head, blinked at her twice before going back to 'sleep'. No, then, she ventured. Looking back down to Danny, she frowned, and curled herself against him as much as possible in the tiny cage. She didn't know how long it would take for her best friend to wake up, and she worried for him, but if they were to find a way to escape, they would both need to be well-rested at the least.

* * *

_It's raining. Again. _

_Somehow, the purple drops of punch seemed bigger this time as they fell onto Danny's Volvo like they meant business. His radio was turned up, but he couldn't hear anything but the Kool-Aid drops falling on his roof. He was driving on a studded belt, but the end was drawing near. Out of the sky, a Pop-Tart fell onto his car, crushing his gut against the wheel. He sighed, letting his head smashed against the door to his left._

_Dammit. The dream would just repeat, as it always had, but Danny would die in more interesting ways each time. It was how he imagined being on mushrooms, acid and heroin all at the same time, but it never stopped. If he didn't think he had gone insane already, he would certainly think so after drowning in boiling, erm, shower gel? Confusion was the least of his worries._

* * *

Sam watched Danny squirm, wondering what on earth he was dreaming about. She ran a hand absently through his shaggy black hair, ignoring the ever-present Danny Impostor in the corner. She knew his 'sleeping' was just a façade, but didn't know what she could do to get his attention. The most he had done in the last, what, 5 hours? was blink at her. It was infuriating, but the real Danny's deep and steady breathing nearby served to calm her down when she thought she would break. Vlad had only returned once, and was only there to make sure that Danny was still unconscious. She taunted him as much as she could bear to, but it served as no help as he wasn't willing to interact with her this time around. She huffed, obviously not happy at having failed, but brought Danny's arms around her and curled up again. There was really nothing better to do than a) sleep, or b) watch the slideshow of stalker-esque pictures of Danny's mom on Vlad's computer.

She fought the urge to puke in the only few square feet of room they had, and tried concentrating on the steady beating of Danny's all-too-human heart under her ear. He kicked at the side of the cage, a futile attempt at escaping what she imagined to be a terrible nightmare. She gave him a sympathetic half-smile, and promptly fell asleep in his embrace.

_**(Okay guys, thanks for sticking in there! I'll definitely have some ass-kicking action and a bit more fuzzies on the way for you all. Yes, this chapter had pretty much no plot aside from the trippy dreams and the soulless Danny. Anyway, I'm sooo sorry, and I'll do my best to have another chapter out by tomorrow night. Review, as always, and my love is with you all. Sincerely, Khepri)**_


	8. Chapter 7

_**(A/N: Hey guys. Yeah, I know, the freaky dreams. **__**The hamster-wheel in my head was going double-time trying to think up something freaky enough to really make Danny's little coma more realistic. And yeah, I do know what these sorts of comas are like: being type 1 diabetic is not fun, especially not for the EMTs who had to revive me… Anyway, here it goes! Uh, also, I realized today that Danny is still at the tender age of 14, not 16 as I had figured in the last chapter. Ah well. As always, review please, and- OH MY GOD- I own Danny Phantom! No, wait, that's just a glass of flat diet soda. Damn. Oh well, I guess I don't own the TV show. -shrug- On with the fic!)**_

Danny continued twitching in his sleep for the next few days, at least while Sam was conscious. Occasionally, Plasmius would have Danny taken out of the cage (via Vlad's own intangibility, through the bars and ghost shield) to be hooked up to a few monitors. A few of them buzzed ominously, some pulsed with glowing green ectoplasm, and a few others were connected to electrodes on Danny's skin. The last time he was put back in the cage, he fell right on top of Sam. She sighed, pushed him off, and leant over him. She inspected the sites of the electrodes and ectoplasm IVs, but when she found nothing out-of-the-ordinary (judging by what she had learned from her stay at the creepy abandoned hospital), she continued looking him over. She turned him over, though he was heavier than he looked (assumably the result of normally unseen muscles, though the thought made Sam drool a little). Lifting up the back of his shirt, Sam was hoping to find out what exactly that blue ray gun had done to him to knock him out for so long.

Sam gasped, fingering a tiny metal device attached to Danny's spine. It had a tiny inner module, from what she could see, that housed a reservoir of glowing green plasma. It fit like the electrodes, and pulsed quietly along with Danny's heart beat. Her breath caught: it was the same thing she had seen attached to his neck that night in her room. She brought a hand over her lips, and picked at the corner of it until it came off. _Yep, _she thought, _just like the other one. _She inspected it briefly before chucking it to the corner of the cage. No use in waking up imposter Danny, was there?

Sam looked over Danny's face. He looked so peaceful, and for a moment she didn't want to wake him up. Sighing a little, she turned him onto his back and straddled him. At any other time, this would have been awkward, but for now: she had a mission. She grabbed his shoulders and shook him vigorously until his eyes opened. He tried to rub his eyes, but the cuffs that linked their hands together prohibited such things. His blue eyes widened at the sight of those handcuffs, then more when he noticed that Sam was straddling his hips.

* * *

His jaw fell open and, blushing furiously, he struggled for words. "Wha- how- what'd, I don't get it, what's going on?" _Not that I mind it terribly,_ he thought with a devilish smile inward.

Sam shook her head. "Vlad knocked you out with another one of those stupid little clasps," she said, crawling off of him and reaching over to the disconnected machinery. She held it up for him to see, then dropped it in his palm as he sat up. "Don't bother trying to get out, he's got the cage rigged with a reversed ghost shield, and the bars are reinforced. Trust me, I've thought pretty much everything through." She sighed, not looking terribly confident. It made Danny's heart jump into his throat- they _were_ in trouble.

For the first time since waking, Danny looked about his surroundings. It was Vlad's inner laboratory, he knew that much, but what was different about it? Ah, there it was. Another Danny replica, but this one was asleep. He turned to Sam. "What's with that guy?" Danny jerked a thumb behind him.

"He's an imitation of you, kind of like fake crab. It's soulless, I think. It has _grey_ _eyes,_ Danny." Her features betrayed an emotion he had never seen in her, and he didn't know what to call it. He frowned.

"Freaky. Well…" Danny huffed, running a hand through his hair. Sam had moved so that she was sitting beside him, and it gave him a little more elbow room. "I'm assuming Vlad's behind this, being that this _is_ his lab, and his cheap little imitation of me." He smiled half-heartedly, a sad attempt at lightening up the mood. Sam nodded and brushed a lock of hair from her face.

* * *

_Dammit, _Sam thought, _I shouldn't have thrown my hair clip at imitation Danny. _She didn't exactly count on finding what was keeping Danny unconscious, so she didn't mind not looking so great until he did wake up. As if he were reading her mind, he spoke up.

"What's up with your hair?" He reached a hand up, but took it back before touching her. She blushed a little, and felt at the side of her head for her loose black tresses.

"Uh, I threw my clip at Mr. Empty Soul over there, trying to get him to say something, but it didn't exactly work." She shrugged, and made to lay against the side of the cage when the doors opened.

* * *

Vlad smiled when he stepped through the double-doors, flicking a light switch on the wall. It seemed a bit too old-school, really, but it did the trick. An eyebrow raised, though nothing more, when he saw that Danny was awake and fine.

"Did you find my latest contraption, then, Samantha? I figured you would eventually." He crossed his arms, looking the two over with a smug smile playing on those cruel lips. He was as Plasmius for the moment, but only for the reason that if Daniel had indeed found a way out of the cage, he would be more that ready to take the child on. He shouldn't have been surprised when Daniel himself spoke up.

"Of course she did, Vlad. Don't you know who she is?" The child leaned forward a bit, really a sad attempt at intimidating the half-human adult outside the cage. Vlad laughed.

"She's your little human girlfriend, judging by the number of times I've seen you fight for her." Vlad took a step forward. Daniel's mouth opened to counter his words, but nothing came out. He spluttered for a moment, blushed furiously, and turned his head into the shadows slightly. "Exactly, my boy. This is why I've decided not to hurt you at all!" The Ghost Child's eyes widened, and his arms moved around the girl in a protective posture. He caught a glimpse of her face flush before she lay a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Danny, no, its okay. I'm sure he won't dare hurt me, it'll be alright," the human girl cooed. Vlad fought back a spiteful laugh, but she continued. "He wouldn't _dare_." He promptly received a venomous glare, but again fought the urge to laugh.

"Think nothing of it, Daniel, I wouldn't hurt a hair on her pretty little head." Vlad flashed a confident smile before reaching a hand into the cage, unlocking the cuff from Daniel's, and turning intangible so that he could pull her through the cage bars and the ghost shield in one fell swoop. He pulled the girl to his side, gripping her cuffs tightly before turning back to the boy. "Of course, I do have my reasons for such…" what was the word he was looking for? Behavior? Actions? Methods? "Manipulations. All I want is that you give up. Stop fighting me, Daniel. Granted, I will take your mother under my wing after I rid the world of your monstrosity of a father," his face softened at a memory, "and you will eventually be set free, for the most part. Of course, as soon as you agree, I will let your little girlfriend here go free and unharmed." _Damnit. _He slipped. He had told the boy he wouldn't harm a hair on her head, didn't he?

"But… You said you wouldn't harm a hair on her head!" Vlad blinked. He should have known that Daniel would see through him. He smiled harshly, and shrugged.

"I did, didn't I?" He reached to Samantha's head, and plucked a single hair from the top of her head. She flinched and rubbed at her scalp for a moment, then let his hand drop after shooting Vlad another poisoned look. _Oh, if looks could kill. _Vlad held up the black hair to the ghost boy, dangling it for a moment before letting it fall to the ground silently. "There. I won't harm _that _hair." Vlad laughed sharply at Daniel's expression.

* * *

"But… but…" Daniel struggled, internally and externally, fighting not only against the bars, but against Vlad's inhuman suggestions. He watched as Vlad brought a claw-like hand up to Sam's head, gripping her chin before turning her head to the sides.

"Oh, don't fret, Daniel. I'll just take her to another room for a few questions, then I'll bring her back. Of course, later we'll have some _family _fun, hm?" Vlad nodded approvingly at his own words, as if he were going over a script in his head. Then, of course, as the doors opened and Vlad dragged Sam into the outer rooms of the lab, it hit him: Why was Sam in Vlad's grips anyway? Why had she been so easily caught at his side? She had always stayed so far away during his fights, constantly at Tucker's side. Where was Tucker? Danny sighed, letting his head crash against the bars.

_Those dreams… _Danny didn't like the vague memories of that eternal psychosis in his nightmares, but was glad he was finally conscious. He wondered what could have caused such horrific dreams until he looked up again. The noise of his skull against the steel bars had woken the alternate Danny, grey eyes open and staring mercilessly at the prisoner ghost child. He blinked once, twice, and closed his eyes again. _Grey eyes. _Danny's hand went up to his temple, fluttering against one of his eyes for a moment of assurance. Assurance of what, he couldn't have been sure, but it made him feel a little better that he knew his own eyes were still in his head. He couldn't tell whether they were still blue, but figured that if Sam hadn't said anything, nothing could have changed. He sighed a bit, leaning against the cage. He knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep, not knowing that Sam was in danger because of his own enemy, his own actions. He watched the doors with those blue eyes, focused and intense.

_I'll never let anything hurt you, Sam. __Never._

_**(Intense, I know! Doesn't it just make your insides all warm and fuzzy? I like this chapter, though it took a bit more time than my other chapters. I blame it on the length, but it makes me happy that I've got another chapter down. :D Please review, I'd really love the feedback. Also: only a little bit more until we hit 1000 views! Hoorah! Thanks, guys. I'll do a one-shot once we get there. All my love, Khepri.)**_


	9. Chapter 8

_**(A/N: So, I'm sorry this has taken so long to update, but I've recently made myself an account on deviantArt and have been uploading some photography to it. The link is on my FanFic profile, if you'd like to see it. Anyway, thanks for the reviews, and it won't be terribly long until I get this story up to 1000 hits! Yay, again! When it gets there, I'll add a little somethin-somethin for you all. :D I've also been writing a really popular Zutara story, to which I've received SO MANY reviews and favorites, it makes my ego swell. I think I might just abandon this one, only a few people seem to like it...)**_

**Chapter 8**

Sam was in a chair. She was in a chair, in a dark room, but it was fairly comfortable, so she didn't complain. Vlad had just tossed her into the chair, told her not to try anything (to which she responded with a "Duh, what am I going to do, run into the wall until I give myself brain damage?"). He had been gone for around 2 hours now, and she was beginning to think maybe he was just going to keep her there, until the door opened.

"Come," he said simply, with a wave of his hand. She raised and eyebrow and stuck her tongue out. He grabbed her within an instant, pulling her to her feet by her wrist.

"Ow! Watch it!" He didn't let go, though. He pulled her again, dragging her at his side until they got back to the main laboratory. Was he going to put her back in the cage with Danny? Goddess, she hoped so. When he opened the doors, Vlad stepped in and tossed Sam onto the floor carelessly.

"Daniel," he said, "I certainly hope you know what you've gotten this young woman into. I'll make sure she regrets trying to save you, if you don't comply." He crossed his arms over his chest, watching her best friend with a devious smirk.

"I've asked before, Vlad, and I'll ask again. What do you want from me?" He seemed so grown up, sitting there as plain old Danny Fenton, and he spoke with an authority that both made her heart swell, and scared her half to death.

"And I'll tell you again. All I want is your cooperation, that you stop fighting me and become my prisoner for a short while." She saw him force a bitter smile. "This young lady will be set free, and you'll be as well, as soon as I'm done with a few things I need you for." His gaze sharpened, and he moved closer, kneeling in front of the cage. "I know you've tried to rid yourself of your ghost side, Daniel, and I know it hasn't worked. I've found a way, and I can give you what you've wanted." Danny's eyes softened, and she felt herself step forward, her hands at her sides balling into fists.

"Don't do it, Danny! He'll just destroy your ghost half and you know it!" His eyes pleaded, but he frowned. He closed his eyes then, bringing his hands up to cradle his head. He spoke softly.

"Sam. All my ghost powers have done for you is put you in danger. If I didn't have them, who knows what good could come of it. I could be normal, and you could be safe. Always." He shifted uncomfortably, not having suspected he would have to admit these things. "You have no idea how much I worry for you, and now its finally come to this. I have a choice, Sam! I can protect you and always be by your side." He was remotely aware that she was blushing, but he did his best to ignore it. "I'm sorry it has to be this way, but if its the only way to keep you safe, then so be it." He turned his head to Vlad. "Fine, just... just don't touch her, please."

Vlad stood, a triumphant smile on his face. How could just 2 hours with his little girlfriend in his clutches change his mind so easily? He would give up everything, and whether he knew it or not, Vlad would finally win. Danny lifted his head again, and his eyebrows lowered, but he said nothing. Instead, Vlad spoke.

"I'm glad you've finally come to your senses then, boy. See, what you don't seem to realize is that I am _far _too powerful for you to even _try _to defeat anymore, and with having Technus and Skulker working for me just makes it all that much easier to keep you here. The only reason you have air to _breathe _is because I truly do see you as my own son, in a round-a-bout sort of way. You are, after all, the son of my only love, and when I marry and _ravish _her, you will be adopted as my step-son. I may even change your name from Fenton to Masters!" Sam cringed. _Danny Masters? Uh, no. _Even worse, that would make her future married name Sam Masters, and that would never sit well with her. Her eyes widened at her own thoughts, and she cringed inwardly. _Stupid hormones. _

"You see, Daniel? I only do this for your own good. All I've ever wanted is happiness, isn't it obvious? I've never been happy since your pig of a father took away the love of my life, and she is really all I need to be happy." His eyes shifted, and he slipped into an old memory. "Ah, yes, Maddie Masters. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

"Sorry to interrupt your little reverie, but is that all you're really trying to get out of this? Family?" Danny had leaned forward a bit.

"Of course, Daniel! Why else would I be doing it? Can you think of anything I've ever wanted more than Maddie? Having you as a step-son would just be icing on the cake, dear boy..." He continued on, but Danny shot her a look that made her stop listening. He rolled his neck, stopping when his head was tilted toward Vlad. Sam nodded, and stepped quietly behind Vlad. Danny's eyes shifted again, and she followed his line of sight to a large metal clipboard on one of the lab tables. She quietly grabbed it and swung it downward onto Vlad's head as hard as she could, distracted as he was by thoughts of such trifling ideas. He fell to the ground with a thump, phasing immediately back to Vlad Masters. She smiled, but Danny frowned, head turned to the Danny Impostor. It was now up and glaring at Sam with fierce intensity. She frowned, too.

_**(A/N: Sorry it's so short, but I like where I ended this, and I also figure that a short update is better than none at all. There's only 2 or 3 more chapters left to go, so please review lots! All my love, Khepri.)**_


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